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Olhão council approves a budget of €22.4 million for next year

olhaocalcada4The Olhão council budget for 2016 will be spent ‘on priority areas’ as defined by the executive led by António Pina, with education, sport, youth culture and social action heading the list.

The proposed budget and key planning options for 2016 were presented by the mayor and were approved by a majority at the last council meeting held on 29 October.

France becomes Europe’s baby capital

baby2012The birth rate in France has overtaken that in Ireland propelling it into top position.

Figures released from Insee, the French national statistics agency, show that French women have an average of 1.99 children, just shy of the two needed to maintain population numbers.

Hotel Guadiana - new development deal announced

hotelvrsaVila Real de Santo António council has launched a public tender for the repair and refurbishment of the iconic but crumbling, Hotel Guadiana.

The building already was classified as a municipal property of interest in 2010 and the council, having bought the property, wants it to be reopened as a hotel.

Ryanair opens new route from Faro to Memmingen, Germany.

ryanair1Memmingen is the latest destination in Germany for passengers travelling on Ryanair.

The airport is located about 3.8 km from the centre of Memmingen and 110 km from the centre of Munich.

It serves Memmingen and the Allgäu area and provides a low-cost alternative to Munich Airport and sometimes is referred to as 'Munich-West' - a trick that for once Ryanair is not using.

Ricardo Salgado's BES pension restored to €90,000 a month

SALGADO2Ricardo Salgado, the former head of Banco Espírito Santo, is to have his capped pension restored to the full entitlement.

Salgado’s monthly pension from the funds of the shattered BES empire will rise from the current €29,000 a month to a more comfortable €90,000, starting next month.

Golden Visa numbers up in October but backlog remains

yachtThere are still thousands of pending Golden Visa applications as mostly Chinese punters queue up to be granted a range of enviable benefits when they buy a property in Portugal over a prescribed value.

After several months of poor performance at the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) whose staff processes the documentation, the rise in October saw 119 requests granted, up from 37 in September.

Portugal to develop its own ‘Route 66’

alentejoview1The oft’ forgotten and little travelled EN2, stretching from Faro in the Algarve to Chaves in Tras-os-Montes in the far north of the country is to become a new tourist route, all 739 kilometres of it.

The 'National Highway 2' initiative is being led by the Santa Marta de Penaguião council in the Vila Real district, where on Saturday a protocol was signed to link together all the municipalities through which the route passes.

Dozens of Vale de Lobo houses have water cut off over billing dispute

water2The resolution of the conflict between water company Infralobo and groups of residents has been on hold pending a court decision, but now has escalated as dozens of properties have had their water supply cut off in the Vale do Lobo area.

The public-private company Infralobo, owned 51% by Loulé council, has ignored an instruction from the water regulator to wait until the court decides on the legality of an additional ‘per bed’ supplement charged by Infralobo on top of water supply bills.